In steel conditioning by grinding it is desirable to grind at a constant metal removal rate to accomplish the job in the shortest time with a minimum loss of metal.
A current practice in the steel conditioning art is to adjust the vertical force on the grinding wheel so as to keep constant the power consumed by the motor driving the wheel, as measured by a power meter. But, faced with a range of wheels which vary in grade, as being supplied by different manufacturers, or containing normal product variation from one source, it is not possible to maintain a constant metal removal rate being guided by the power alone. At the same metal removal rate the softer acting wheels require less power then those of harder grade. This is because, if a softer acting wheel is substituted for a hard one, the vertical (or normal) force on the wheel must be reduced to maintain constant metal removal rate. Consequently if a softer than normal wheel is used at the usual power level the metal loss will be excessive.